Building Walls

Thursday was build a wall day. 

The crew trenched, blocked, cemented and started cutting slate from the old walkway to fit its new home. 

Today they trucked out the bobcat and the huge recycling bin (for rocks, bricks and stuff) 

We got the baby truck this time 

to make room for a new delivery 

of gravel to finish the back (hoping to write the backyard’s  ‘all done’ check tomorrow or Monday)

cobblestone pavers, 

and something like 6000 pounds of big rocks.

Work on the wall continued - 

each piece of slate is cut by hand and fitted into place individually. 

There were four guys working almost the entire day just on this. 

 Using gravel for spacers

It’s going to look so amazing!

 The little under-lights are wired in place on the wall 

and the big lights for the pillars were delivered today. 

Still a lot to do but we’ve got progress!

Wonderland Two-fer

Wonderland has not been nice to me lately. One block gave me so many problems - and looked so bad when it was done - I tossed it in the trash. It was definitely operator error, not the pattern, which didn’t make me feel any better. 😜

I just wanted this project done, which is funny since the two blocks I finished tonight are among my favorites. First up - Bromeliad by Thimbles and Needles. Swap in Christmas colors and it makes a great Christmas cactus. 

I enlarged it slightly - from 7” to 8” - and had to do a bit of cut and paste since it wouldn’t fit on one page. Worth it!

Second block is Candle by Maddie Sews. So simple and I love how it turned out. 

Next will be getting the blocks close to the same size. 

The biggest is 8.5” (finished 8”) and the smallest is just under 7” (finished 6.5-ish). Then add a bit of sashing and it’ll be ready for longarm quilting. And maybe ready to hang at Christmas…

Baby Gates

Thought we were done with baby gates, but Coco ran behind me last night to start a hissy fight with Ginger. No physical contact before I broke it up - I even remembered not to put my hands near the sharp end of either cat while I was doing it. 

Coco is now locked out of upstairs and Ginger has her own domain, if she ever comes out of the bedroom (working on it…)  

The old front walkways are gone as of this morning and the new paths are graded and … mudded? Or whatever they do before the new pavers go down. The old slate is in piles to be reused for walls. 

Back is done except for the gravel which hasn’t been delivered yet. 

See all those dark blocks by the gate? Each one was individually cut so it fit precisely where they wanted. These guys are good - it’s been amazing to watch everything come together. Now we wait for the next big delivery…

Yard Art

Today’s yard art. Modern industrialism? 😜

Also? That front section of fence has to be replaced. Looks like the tall shrub that used to be there was holding it up. Better to find out before the new plants go in…

Stepping stones. We weren’t sure how they were going to do these and… we like them! Picked out the gravel to go between (and other materials) today with delivery later this week.

Border trim is almost done. We are so close to finishing the back!

How It Started

Here’s how the front yard looked about 10 this morning:

and just after the crew stopped for the day about 4 pm.

Big difference, due mostly to the bobcat operator. 

Hubby and I sat and watched him most of the afternoon - 

It’s Jack (hammer) time!

he made that ‘cat sit up and dance. 

Always a pleasure to watch someone who’s very good at his job.

 When hubby built this fountain he used a LOT of cement. Bobcat guy tried the scoop, jaws and 2 sizes of jackhammer before he could get it out. 

This part is done, including the caps on the drain pipes,

and this section is getting closer to finished -

really impressed with how neatly they enclosed the cement bbq pad.

Also, still need a little clean up and gravel placement for the middle part.

Monday we’re scheduled to pick out hardscape for the front - choosing new plants won’t be far behind.

Oh My Yards

Late last night I thought maybe I’d rather keep that big orchid tree in the front yard. 

Looked out the window this morning, not even a full day after we gave the go-ahead, and too late! 

They already had it half down. Guess I was wrong about them not starting until next week!

Don’t know if work is slow or they are just efficient, but by the end of the day most of the greenscape was gone. Fortunately, when hubby saw what was happening this morning, he put big notes on the couple of plants I wanted to keep. Just in case the guys doing the work hadn’t gotten the word…

 After - same view as below ⬇️

I keep imagining the look on our long-time gardeners face when he comes by on Monday for his weekly visit. Boy, is he in for a surprise!

Before

Back section of the backyard looks very close to done. Just needs the cementy stuff between the pavers to set and the drip lines to go in along the fence.

Paving the front section is progressing. 

The narrow bit between the 2 yards will have gravel and stepping stones to help with water runoff. I’m guessing that will be the last thing they finish before it’s all done. 

More! Construction

Tuesday, Day 4, was paver delivery day.

Giant truck - I wouldn’t want to maneuver that on residential streets - agile forklift, and about a third of the back section had pavers installed by end of the day. 

Top row is Tuesday; bottom is Wednesday.

Today was more pavers and the start of border trim in the back, and final leveling of the front section so they can start laying pavers tomorrow.

And… we’d asked the contractor for ideas on redoing the front yard, thinking we’d get an estimate and maybe do it in January. 

 What it looks like now

But his price was good (less than we expected) and we liked the design he and Chat-GPT came up with, sooooo…

construction starts as soon as the backyard is done. 

 The low wall on the right will also be on the left and partially up the driveway.

A big positive was that we can reuse the slate from the current walkway in the design. 

It’s exciting but nerve-wracking too. Hope it turns out like we’re picturing.

Tracking the color changes in my toe. So annoying.